Co-ordinated operations to flush out Naxalites soon

Bharti Jain, ET BureauFeb 6, 2009, 01.22am IST

NEW DELHI: Having realised the futility of a piecemeal approach in fighting Naxalites, the Centre is now devising a long-haul strategy that will involve simultaneous, co-ordinated counter-operations in all Left-wing extremism-hit states, thus plugging all possible escape routes of Maoists.

The Union home ministry felt the need for states to jointly fight the extremists as intensified operations in one state were only driving the Maoists to safer havens in the neighbouring states.

For example, the successful counter-strikes on Naxalites' hideouts in south Chhattisgarh had seen a rise in extremist activities in the bordering districts of Orissa. Union home minister P Chidambaram is said to have agreed to the need to plug the Maoists' escape routes both at a meeting of chief ministers of 7 Naxalism-hit states on January 7 and later during his visits to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

At a review meeting chaired by special secretary(internal security) Raman Srivastava on Thursday and attended by the DGPs of four states most hit by the Naxal menace — Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra — the Centre asked the latter to work out their estimates of the Central forces reinforcements needed to undertake the planned, time co-ordinated assault on the Maoists. The other Naxalite-infested states of Jharkhand, Bihar, UP and West Bengal will also give their inputs in this regard.

However, given that such a time co-ordinated, pan-state offensive against Naxalites would require a major increase in the deployment levels of Central para-military forces, its launch may have to wait until after the elections when most CPMF personnel will be preoccupied with poll security.

In fact, the schedule may be further pushed to post-monsoon, with rains rendering the Naxalite hideouts in dense jungles of Chhattisgarh inaccessible to the security forces.

A questionnaire has been circulated to all states seeking information on various counts like the strength of their respective police force, need for additional weapons, extent of Central forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations, geographical details of Naxal-infested pockets and other requirements of men and material for fighting the extremists.

The states would, in the coming days, map the Naxal pocketboroughs and, based upon it, indicate the number of additional Central forces they would require to simultaneously launch operations.

At the review meeting, Mr Srivastava offered all help to the four states in fighting the Naxalites, including more BSF deployment as well as helicopters.

Among the states, Maharashtra, which recently saw a major Naxal strike in Gadchiroli killing 15 security personnel, and Orissa asked for more forces for fighting the Maoists. Orissa, in fact, sought expeditious return of Central forces that had been diverted to tackling anti-Christian violence, to anti-Naxal duties.

Maharashtra, represented by its additional DGP, shared the details of the Gadchiroli incident. The prior intelligence on Maoists' strategy to trap police personnel by attacking elsewhere and ambushing the rescue parties as they approach the attack site as well as a recent merger of CPI(Maoist)'s Gadhchiroli committee into the larger and more powerful Dandkarenya border committee came in for a mention, as Maharashtra was asked to be careful of similar strikes in the coming days.

Meanwhile, even as the states go back to the drawing table to devise their respective operational strategies for the time co-ordinated offensive, some are planning surgical strikes even ahead of the Lok Sabha poll.

Chhattisgarh and Orissa are two states that have plans to step up pressure on the Naxalites in the run-up to the elections. Orissa DGP on Thursday is said to have sought additional forces for the purpose.